Super Monday

Good morning. This is the Opening Drive, the weekly newsletter that brings you the best of the NFL so you’re always the smartest one at the water cooler.

The Chiefs beat the 49ers in an overtime thriller, Usher fizzled, two shirtless fans rushed the field, and the "DunKings" made their worldwide debut. ☕ 👑 Fourteen percent of US employees plan to miss at least some work on “Super Sick Monday,” and there are 206 days until the 2024 NFL season kicks off, but who’s counting?

Thinking about launching your own newsletter? Today’s sponsor, Beehiiv, is the all-in-one newsletter suite that makes is super simple to build, grow, and monetize your newsletter, and you can try it free. Yes, free. Check them out.

Let’s dive in.

SUPER BOWL LVIII HEADLINES

• Chiefs become the first team in 19 years to win back-to-back Super Bowls (ESPN)

• Patrick Mahomes wins his third Super Bowl MVP (NFL.com)

• 49ers lose second Super Bowl in four years (ESPN)

• Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo now the most decorated coordinator in history with four Super Bowl wins (Yahoo Sports)

• Travis Kelce had a sideline meltdown (Yahoo Sports)

• Mecole Hardman didn’t know Chiefs had won on winning TD catch (Yahoo Sports)

• With a chance at ‘three-peat’ on the line, Chiefs owner/CEO Clark Hunt expects Andy Reid to return in 2024 (NFL.com)

• First the first time ever, the Super Bowl had no kickoff returns (Pro Football Talk)

• 49ers LB Dre Greenlaw tears Achilles running onto field (ESPN)

• Usher falls flat with audiences in halftime show (Deadline)

• Here are the best and worst commercials from this year (The Athletic)

QUICK HITS

• Average ticket price of $8,600 made Super Bowl LVIII the most expensive in history (Reuters)

• A 30-second Super Bowl commercial cost advertisers $7 million, up from $42.5K in 1967 - a 16,370% increase! (NYT)

• An estimated 67.8 million people bet on the Super Bowl (American Gaming Association)

• Steve McMichael, Devin Hester, Julius Peppers selected to Pro Football Hall of Fame (Pro Football Talk)

• Lamar Jackson won his second career NFL MVP (ESPN)

• Complaints over the condition of 49ers’ practice field another chapter in a long saga around playing surfaces in the NFL (Yahoo Sports)

• The NFLPA says 92% of players want grass fields over turf (ESPN)

• Jets owner Woody Johnson on upcoming 2024 season, “This is it. We’ve got to produce.” (Yahoo Sports)

• Roger Goodell questioned once again for lack of diversity in NFL Media (Awful Announcing)

• Jason Kelce met with Amazon to discuss possibly joining ‘Thursday Night Football’ coverage (Pro Football Talk)

• The Eagles will open the 2024 season in Brazil (AP News)

• The NFL's first game in Spain will be held at Is Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in 2025 (NFL.com)

• An anonymous NFL GM told Dianna Russini that Mike Vrabel’s physical stature may have been a reason he wasn’t hired as a head coach (CBS Sports)

• ESPN, Fox, and Warner Discovery are teaming up to create a new sports streaming venture launching in 2024 (Yahoo Finance)

A MESSAGE FROM BEEHIIV

These stories are presented thanks to beehiiv, an all-in-one newsletter suite built by the early Morning Brew team.

Fully equipped with built-in growth and monetization tools, no code website and newsletter builder, and best-in-class analytics that actually move the needle.

The top newsletters in the world are built on beehiiv, and yours can be too. It's the most affordable option in the market, and you can try it for free — no credit card required.

Get started →

WHO’S UP? WHO’S DOWN?

Who’s up?
Devin Hester. Hester is undoubtedly the greatest return specialist in NFL history, and now the first one selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. During his 11-year career, primarily with the Chicago Bears, Hester set records that may never be broken. He holds the NFL record for most kick return touchdowns (20), most punt return touchdowns (14), and most overall return touchdowns (23). Kick returns were often regarded as a routine play, a good time to grab a snack or check your fantasy scores. Hester turned it into MUST SEE TV. His lightning quick speed and uncanny field vision made him a threat to score every time he touched the ball on special teams. Beyond just the raw numbers, Hester changed the way teams approached kickoffs and punts. Opponents would often kick short or out of bounds to avoid giving Hester an opportunity to return. His impact went beyond special teams too, as opposing offenses would feel hurried to score with the knowledge that Hester could quickly flip field position and momentum. For revolutionizing the return game and being arguably the best ever at his position, Devin Hester is fully deserving of pro football's highest individual honor. Congratulations Devin Hester and rest of the class of 2024.

Who’s down?
Streaming. Someone make it make sense, please. Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are joining forces to create — cable? The media giants announced on Tuesday that the trio will launch a new sports streaming service this fall, bundling content from ESPN, Fox Sports, Turner Sports, and more into one package (i.e., cable). This super-sized streaming bundle aims to be a one-stop shop for sports fans, with rights to basically every major sport. While this union of media titans marks a dramatic shift, it's far from a total bundling solution. Major players like NBC, CBS, were left on the sidelines so you won't find Super Bowl LVII or March Madness' CBS games on this still-unnamed platform. The alliance does, however, elevate Fox in streaming and allow ESPN to test the waters before its own planned direct-to-consumer launch in 2025. For now, this sports streaming team-up looks less like a total game-changer and more like a pragmatic play by media giants seeking to stem cord-cutting losses. Don’t be surprised if this is the first of many streaming collaborations to come. At the same time, expect continued fragmentation as content providers with their own platform and content will offer standalone direct-to-consumer service, further adding to consumer confusion and frustration.

NUMBERS YOU SHOULD KNOW
A deep dive into the economics of Super Bowl eats

A record-breaking estimated 200.5 million adults tuned in to watch the Chiefs beat the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. So much so that fans this year spent an estimated $17.3 billion on food and drink. That’s enough to buy 2.2 million official NFL footballs. What were the top snacks? According to survey data, chips and dip, chicken wings, and pizza. An estimated 11.3 million pounds of chips and ten million pounds of ribs were consumed on Sunday. And what would the Super Bowl be without wings? Americans consumed a mind-blowing 1.45 billion (billion with a ‘B’) wings yesterday. That's enough to provide nearly five wings for every single person in the U.S. To wash it all down, consumers spent $1.23 billion on 50 million cases of beer (or 325.5 million gallons) just for the game.

Did you know? On Super Bowl Sunday…

🥑 139.4 million pounds of avocados were consumed
🚗 60% of all take-out orders were pizza
🍕 Domino’s alone delivered over two million pizzas
🌽 More than eight million pounds of tortilla chips were consumed
🍅 An essential ingredient in some queso dips, more than five million cans of Ro-Tel were used, compared to 3.3 millions cans during a typical week
🧀 Over four million pounds of Velveeta was eaten, compared to 2.4 million pounds during a typical week
📈 More than half of Americans preferred ranch dressing over blue cheese to dip their wings

OPENING DRIVE BEST BET 🎰🎲
Opening Drive record ATS 1-2 📈 

Here’s the top three way-to-early odds to win Super Bowl LIX via DraftKings.

• 49ers +550

• Chiefs +650

• Ravens +900

Please check your local state rules and regulations. 21+, gamble responsibly.

BEST LOOK 🔥 

Viva Las Vegas — “Sin City” was the perfect location for the Super Bowl and the world’s biggest Roomba (aka Allegiant Stadium) was the perfect stage. To no one’s surprise the field looked spectacular (even that yellow end zone).

Las Vegas was built for events like this. Let’s start a petition to make it the permanent site, along with the Rose Bowl as the permanent site of the college football national championship game. Who’s with me?

MEME OF THE WEEK

You can get free stuff for referring friends and family to Opening Drive 👇️ 

1 referral - Opening Drive AI 2024 mock draft ✅ 
5 referrals - Opening Drive sticker pack ✅